You Bet Your Tomatoes: Fun Facts, Tall Tales, and a Handful of Useful Gardening Tips

by Mike McGrath

"What great tomato-growing ideas! I've been 'container gardening' my Big Boys in old abandoned refrigerators in the front yard for years now, but next season, I'll take Mike's advice and trellis them up the side of our double-wide!"--Martha Slewart, Martha Slewart's Lying

"Did I write this book? So many of the jokes just seem so...familiar."--Garrison Keelover, A Prairie Home Tomato

"Aren't these things poisonous to eat?"--Thomas Jefferson, farmer and framer

"Forget basketball! I'm retiring again to grow heirloom tomatoes! Now, what kind of shoes am I gonna need . . . ?"--Michael Jardin, tall guy

"This is just the kind of 'hidden message' book I expect from you left-leaning, liberal-compost-applying, communal gardening, card-carrying organic types! Well, you don't fool me one bit-- enticing the youth of America to experiment with PINK tomatoes! RED fruits! Arkansas TRAVELER-- or is that Arkansas FELLOW TRAVELERS??? I'm sticking with my red, white, and blue potatoes!"--Rush ToJudgement, The Rush ToJudgement Show

Genres: Gardening

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

The Short Take
Mike McGrath is:
Host of the nationally syndicated Public Radio show, You Bet Your Garden
Garden Editor for WTOP News Radio in Washington, DC
Contributing Editor and columnist for Greenprints magazine
Former Editor-in-Chief of ORGANIC GARDENING magazine
Author of books on Tomatoes, Compost and Kitchen Gardening

Reviews

[Bonnie Burton · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to read a funny book on how to grow beautiful tomatoes, then You Bet Your Tomatoes is right up your alley. Mike McGrath (NPR host of the gardening radio program, "You Bet Your Tomatoes") not only shows you quick ways to keep your tomato plants happy and thriving, but he tells some funny stories and bizarre factoids along the way. In fact, I wonder why this book isn't also sold in the humor section at the bookstore?

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

He used to be the editor of Organic Gardening (magazine) and his column was the funniest thing I ever read!

****

Sadly, he's not as funny as I remember... His gardening advice is awesome, though. I especially needed to hear that tomatoes will thrive best when "caged AND staked," especially the heirloom varieties. Last year's tomatoes were a mess, despite cages....

[Mark Smiley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a quick read, the book being only 100 pages long.
I got it as I am trying to better my tomato production this year.
The author knows his stuff and writes it in a humorous way.
The size of the book makes it easy to find pertinent information and to reference quickly.

[Manintheboat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tomatoes 101. Not actually funny, more like one of your uncles who thinks he's funny.
But a good basic tomato book.

[Llwells · Rating 4 out of 5]

cute and informative.

[Ladyacct · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny and you learn something too;-)